No longer an option to live off of GS games?

BackUpAndDown

Before I start doing the math on how much I'll lose by bowing to GS's % I'd appreciate a ball park estimation of how much I could potentially earn. =/

jonmulcahy

it all depends on how good your game is, that's really the only deciding factor, you have people who fall in every range above.

BackUpAndDown

How good does a game have to be before it starts pulling in $5k/m? I read Tshirt comment that FMG could possibly retire on his Grisly Manor game, was he just joking?

peachpellen

I don't think it's an option any more for anyone.

A game making $5k a month still gives $1500 to Apple, leaving you with $3500.

Then of course GS will take a cut, let's say 30% and assume it is from what Apple pays and not the original sum; so 30% of $3500 is 1050.

So, Apple and GS take a cut - you are left with $2450

Then you need to pay taxes; we'll call that 30% although it is likely higher depending on where you are from - and will go up as you make more. So that's another $735 gone.

Your $5k p/m game will leave you with $1715.

$1715 per month is about $428 a week. This isn't enough to live on.

BackUpAndDown

I only have to pay 15% if i'm making less then 25k/yr.

how is 1.7k/m not enough to live on? my 2 bedroom apartment costs $600/m and I roughly spend $200/m on food... o.O

design219

BackUpAndDown said:
How good does a game have to be before it starts pulling in $5k/m?

Pretty damn good. Over 1,000 games made with GameSalad have been published to the app store. I'd venture to guess less than 10 have made that, and then to sustain that would be very difficult.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but the odds of success in the app store, even with a great game, are not all that high. I don't mean to sound like a downer, but go into this with realistic expectations.

Best of luck to you.

____________________________

Friends sharing the "great" news about GameSalad Publisher! (warning: adult words)

BackUpAndDown

design219 said:
Pretty damn good. Over 1,000 games made with GameSalad have been published to the app store. I'd venture to guess less than 10 have made that, and then to sustain that would be very difficult.

I'm not saying it can't be done, but the odds of success in the app store, even with a great game, are not all that high. I don't mean to sound like a downer, but go into this with realistic expectations.

Best of luck to you.

Thanks for the info and tips! (and your video made me lol, i've watched it three times already =P)

peachpellen

BackUpAndDown said:
I only have to pay 15% if i'm making less then 25k/yr.

how is 1.7k/m not enough to live on? my 2 bedroom apartment costs $600/m and I roughly spend $200/m on food... o.O

I liked your post because that's so little to spend on food ^-^;

1700 for most of us wouldn't be enough to live on for a month. Where I come from rent is a LOT more than $600 per month, plus utilities.

Are your utilities covered?

Also, what do you eat and drink for only $200 per month? Here you'd be lucky to spend less than $20 a day on food and drink, if you are a meat eater.

What about internet, phone, car, etc?

If you can really live on that much wherever you're from then yes - GS could be for you. If you can make a $5k a month game, that is.

BackUpAndDown

peachpellen said:
I liked your post because that's so little to spend on food ^-^;

1700 for most of us wouldn't be enough to live on for a month. Where I come from rent is a LOT more than $600 per month, plus utilities.

Are your utilities covered?

Also, what do you eat and drink for only $200 per month? Here you'd be lucky to spend less than $20 a day on food and drink, if you are a meat eater.

What about internet, phone, car, etc?

If you can really live on that much wherever you're from then yes - GS could be for you. If you can make a $5k a month game, that is.

I pretty much live off of rice, instant noodles, fast food, canned fish/meat with the occasional trip to a fancy restaurant.

The utilities are coverd in the $600/m but I still have to pay an extra $80/m for phone/internet/tv (forgot to add those). As for car, since I work from home I simply don't need one. I walk, bike or use public transportation when I need to.

I guess a few $500.00/m games would be a little more realistic... depending how this whole thing with GS turns out.

P.s. I love how even in the craziness of this entire ordeal the community is still willing to take the time to help "noobs" like me.

MotherHoose

@BackUpAndDown

LOL...do you do laundry? buy toilet paper? presents? cleaning supplies? clothes? what if something breaks down?
so many little things go into the cost-of-living...we should deduct those too!

you're not a "noob"; you are a developing developer!

MH

BackUpAndDown

MotherHoose said:
@BackUpAndDown

LOL...do you do laundry? buy toilet paper? presents? cleaning supplies? clothes? what if something breaks down?
so many little things go into the cost-of-living...we should deduct those too!

you're not a "noob"; you are a developing developer!

MH

But those things aren't really "necessary".

I only listed the major things I spend money on, but even with all the little things I still only spend $900-950/m, I'm really low maintenance. And once I save up $50k I'll be spending even less each month.

I appreciate your kind words but after having my plans shattered by Gandai, i'm more of a depressed developer...

peachpellen

BackUpAndDown said:
I pretty much live off of rice, instant noodles, fast food, canned fish/meat with the occasional trip to a fancy restaurant.

The utilities are coverd in the $600/m but I still have to pay an extra $80/m for phone/internet/tv (forgot to add those). As for car, since I work from home I simply don't need one. I walk, bike or use public transportation when I need to.

I guess a few $500.00/m games would be a little more realistic... depending how this whole thing with GS turns out.

P.s. I love how even in the craziness of this entire ordeal the community is still willing to take the time to help "noobs" like me.

If you can live on that amount then that's great and it does give you more options; if you wanted to use GS it might still be an option for you.

Personally even if I were single I couldn't live on that though, sadly Things here are a bit more expensive, from what you've said - no where would be $600 with utilities; it's more like $1200 without

That, and I've got a whole lot of medical things I have to pay and such.

I really hope you can make that amount; it'd be great to live off app sales alone

eaguirre

Hi tshirtbooth,
I kind of disagree, the importance is not making 1 week games. The importance is creating good games. There is a lot of garbage in the AppStore. You have excellent games, but I doubth that your latest cannon game (which I love it) took just one week from conception to submition in the apple store

Cheers,

Emilio

BackUpAndDown

eaguirre said:
Hi tshirtbooth,
I kind of disagree, the importance is not making 1 week games. The importance is creating good games. There is a lot of garbage in the AppStore. You have excellent games, but I doubth that your latest cannon game (which I love it) took just one week from conception to submition in the apple store

Cheers,

Emilio

Probably why he said: "PS. im not saying its ok to make a 1 week game. Im using this as an example " at the end of his post...

Chaser

Search DeMentid Apps at the store and you will see I have some 11 apps with what I consider to be decent to good graphics and gameplay if it's a game, and on a low month I pull in 200 on a high month 600. After tax is that enough for me to live on? Hell no ! So why do I do it? First I'm creative and I need an outlet, I'm a bit OCD and it's better than OCDing on a couch during my time off, it's fun, I hope I make a smash hit to get me out of my $80K job or just earn side money because as life goes you earn more you spend more it's never ending. But for the most part my 7 year old boy loves that his dad made a game just for him. Sure GS is a good tool but severly lacking camera, mic, gps, and magnetometer control which are all the things my main app Ghost Words needs. So unless GS adds these features they won't go very far especially after yesterdays debacle.

BackUpAndDown

peachpellen said:
If you can live on that amount then that's great and it does give you more options; if you wanted to use GS it might still be an option for you.

Personally even if I were single I couldn't live on that though, sadly Things here are a bit more expensive, from what you've said - no where would be $600 with utilities; it's more like $1200 without

That, and I've got a whole lot of medical things I have to pay and such.

I really hope you can make that amount; it'd be great to live off app sales alone

You could always move up north. Canada really isn't as cold as everyone thinks and medicare is practically free. ^_^

The reason I started using GS in the first place was so that I could live solely off of app/game sales and with any luck hopefully I still can. =/

peachpellen

Makes sense; and seriously if that is all you need to live a month if you work hard enough I think it's totally achievable, even now - it will only be harder.

We actually plan to relocated in a few years time; possibly to CA. It's that or the US.

I'd be SO happy if I could live on $1700 a month - seriously - I'd have a huge bank account, hehe.

BackUpAndDown

peachpellen said:
Makes sense; and seriously if that is all you need to live a month if you work hard enough I think it's totally achievable, even now - it will only be harder.

We actually plan to relocated in a few years time; possibly to CA. It's that or the US.

I'd be SO happy if I could live on $1700 a month - seriously - I'd have a huge bank account, hehe.

That would be kinda cool if a few GS developers lived in the same city, we could have our own office and everything. XD

TymeMaster

BackUpAndDown said:
But those things aren't really "necessary".

I only listed the major things I spend money on, but even with all the little things I still only spend $900-950/m, I'm really low maintenance. And once I save up $50k I'll be spending even less each month.

I appreciate your kind words but after having my plans shattered by Gandai, i'm more of a depressed developer...

Thats sick dude.

By the way, you forgot 15.3% minimum SE tax you have to pay.

butterbean

peachpellen said:
Makes sense; and seriously if that is all you need to live a month if you work hard enough I think it's totally achievable, even now - it will only be harder.

We actually plan to relocated in a few years time; possibly to CA. It's that or the US.

I'd be SO happy if I could live on $1700 a month - seriously - I'd have a huge bank account, hehe.

Canada is GORGEOUS! You can't go wrong with Canada OR you could move to Southern California, which is cheaper cost of living than northern.

Either way you can't lose

peachpellen

butterbean said:
Canada is GORGEOUS! You can't go wrong with Canada OR you could move to Southern California, which is cheaper cost of living than northern.

Either way you can't lose

With the cost of living here so high, I think most places in the US would be cheaper except for the costly city center and "upper class" neighborhoods - not that I'd want to live in either - I've lived in both here and frankly I prefer being in a nice "normal" area with a bit of greenery

I think I'd like Canada - all the photos my friends there send me look beautiful - although I guess that's why they're taking the pictures :P

butterbean

peachpellen said:
With the cost of living here so high, I think most places in the US would be cheaper except for the costly city center and "upper class" neighborhoods - not that I'd want to live in either - I've lived in both here and frankly I prefer being in a nice "normal" area with a bit of greenery

I think I'd like Canada - all the photos my friends there send me look beautiful - although I guess that's why they're taking the pictures :P

You certainly can't go wrong with Canada. When I visited Vancouver, I wanted to move there. It's also been voted, "Twice" as one of the most livable cities in the world.

Shpint

Maybe he's not living in USA?
Asian countries have really low living cost.
Each meal can be worth as low as $1, and 1 bedroom apartment probably cost around $250/M

Fetaboy

I think the key to living off of GS games (or any iTunes apps) is not to worry about the one hit wonder if it doesn't come but to concentrate on building a steady library of decent performing apps (like some members here have done), where you can actually sort of predict the monthly income and not be on a rollercoaster ride.

My goal is a steady $500 a day. I easily had that 2 years ago with one app which was the #2 overall paid app, but it's too much of a rollercoaster ride and eventually comes to an end. I'd much rather have 50 apps making $10/day each, or even 10 apps making $50/day each than 1 or 2 apps making even $1000 day.

suntzumobile

I'm a Developer with My own business and Corporation. I don't need anyone to administrate for my company and collect a piece of the action. I accept paying for software but there is no way our company would ever accept these terms. Who's GS's CFO, and CEO, in fact who's coming up with this stuff? Contact me guys I'll be glad to help you. there are other ways and other Software Packages that can create games without having to give up a large residual. I hope GS is smart enough to re-asses their plan because there are going to be a lot of established people dropping off. I understand that they want to help those who may have trouble with the business end, or is it in fact make more of a profit? GS should offer the option to let them publish your work or let you publish it yourself. Let me know guys if you need a COO peace